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Diana Rouvas @ Gingers 9.5.14

Ever since first hearing Diana Rouvas on The Voice in season 1 (2012) I have been waiting for the opportunity to see her perform a show of her own and last Friday night I had that opportunity when she performed to a sell-out crowd at Gingers.

Diana Rouvas

If you don’t know Gingers it is a very intimate venue in Darlinghurst and is attached to the Oxford Hotel. The stage, whilst small, had enough room to accommodate Diana and her seven piece band which comprised back-up singers Rob Edwards, Paula Baxter and Tabitha Ojeah (all awesome singers in their own right), Eric Aranda on guitar, Steve Marin on drums, Cesar Marin on bass and Ben Sekali on keyboard.

The lighting at Gingers is very dim and makes it difficult for photographers but the ambiance it created suited Diana’s performance and allowed the audience to focus solely on her without distraction.

Diana Rouvas

Supporting Diana was blues singer Aaron Lyon who sang a few of his originals for half an hour prior to Diana’s performance. Keep an eye out for him as he is one to watch too with his well written and sung ballads.

Diana opened with one of her originals, “My Morning” and proceeded to wow the audience as she played a set of songs that allowed her to showcase her obvious talent. Original songs included “If I Never Said Hello” which was recorded by Diana in the USA with Rufus, “Heads or Tails” which Diana wrote when she was only 17, “Steavie”, “Heaven”, her new single “Heart of Goodbye” which is quite a catchy song. To me it has a 70’s /80’s sound to it which I quite like and I can see it appealing to a wider audience. “Wait for No One” was another original by Diana Rouvas and it’s about her career and the advice that she received from her then boss about making things happen and not waiting for someone else to do something.

The covers performed were Bonnie Raitt’s “I Can’t Make You Love Me”, David Ryan Harris’s “Sweetest Berry”, Donny Hathaway’s “I Love You More Than You’ll Ever Know” and the final song was T Bone Walker’s “Stormy Monday”. There have been many covers of “Stormy Monday” but this was the best one that I have ever heard.

Diana Rouvas is a passionate and emotive singer with a voice that most singers can only dream of having and is backed by a very tight and talented band. Special mention needs to be made of Eric Aranda’ s guitar solos which were another highlight of the night.

It’s been a long time coming but Diana is currently working on her EP and I can’t wait for it to be released. Her current single is available on Itunes. You can keep up with future gigs by following Diana’s page on Facebook